i had, i THINK about 50-52 of those things, i REALLY liked the Lion, the boar was good, the Rhino, snake, white fish wtih pink armor, the alligator/croc, the rabbit. i even tried making a fighting game with them, using dice. we looked at their number codes that were marked on their bodies somewhere, and we would say that those were the amount of "hit points" that they had, and take turns rolling the dice, and eliminating each other's points, 6 at a time.

i sort of remember Food Fighters. there was a hamburger, a milkshake, and pizza?

Battle Beasts (or Beast Former as they are known in Japan) were an offshoot series somewhat related to the Transformers. The Beasts one and only animated appearance was in the Japanese exclusive series "Transformers: Headmasters" episode titled 'Attack on Planet Beast'
The figures were already in production so Takara decided to put them in the Transformers series to make them sell better.
They were marketed in the US as their own series with no relation to Transformers.
Theres also an incredibly rare second series called "Laser Beasts" about 30 more figures were created and sold only in Japan. 10 of them were sold in the US as "Shadow Warriors" and could only be purchased at the Hasbro company store.